The Holiday
by EuphoriaLily
Summary: Emma Swan's head over heels for the wrong guy. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity gives her an out for Christmas. In LA she meets the charming Killian Jones and her life gets turned upside down.
1. Prologue

**Okay, so I've been having this idea of a Once Upon a Time version of the Holiday. This is the prologue, and depending on the response, I might continue this. Let me know, okay? Love you guys!**

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_I have found almost everything ever written about love, to be true. Shakespeare said, 'Journeys end in lover's meeting.' Oh, what an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I'm more than willing to believe, Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I'm constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said 'Love is blind.'_

_Now that is something I know to be true._

_For some, quite inexplicably, love fades._

_For others, love is simply lost._

_But then of course, love can also be found. Even if just for the night._

_And then there's another kind of love. The cruellest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. It's called unrequited love. Of that, I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories? Those of us who fall in love alone._

Emma stopped writing for a moment to look over at the busy party going on outside of her office. Her heart was aching as she wrote this, but it had to be done. She had to deliver this article before midnight. But she hated writing about her own life. She hated doing this nonsense.

Why was she always stuck with the stupid articles?

_We are the victims of the one-sided affair, we are the cursed of the loved ones, we are the _un_loved ones, the walking wounded, the handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space._

Oh screw this, she was going out there and have some fun with Regina. This was a Christmas party, for Pete's sake! She saved the article so she could call it up later, and left her silent office for the deafening noise outside. She spotted him immediately, and her heart clenched.

_Yes, you are looking at one such individual. _Emma continued her article in her head, likes always when she wasn't quite done yet. Emma stared at him conversing with their colleagues, a glass of champagne in his hand, looking like he owned the fucking place, and sighed. Three horrible years, the worst Christmases, the worst birthdays, New Year's Eves brought in with tears and Valium.

Neal Cassidy had been the subject of her obsession for those three years, and she just _couldn't _get over him. She spotted Regina from across the room, and made her way over to her. "Hey – oh!" Emma grabbed the glass out of Regina's hand and gulped it down while his smile made her stomach ache. "Oh, _Neal._ I thought that was over? That _you_ were done!"

"It _is_ – I _am_!" Emma exclaimed, indignantly, but she bit her lip at the same time. Who was she kidding? _God, just the sight of him. Throat thickening, heart pounding, absolutely can't swallow_.

"What is the story with you two anyway? Weren't you sleeping with him?" Regina asked for the thousandth time. She couldn't get enough of hearing this, especially when she was drunk – which was now.

Emma rolled her eyes, but she didn't have anything else to talk about. "I was _in love_ with him, Regina. Then I found out he was fucking that tramp Tamara from upstairs – which is when I stopped sleeping with him, by the way." she added pointedly. If she wasn't careful, Regina and her evil tendencies would turn this into something even more scandalous, and she did not need then.

"But you two are always together, why in the world would you stay friends with him when he cheated on you?"

Emma sighed, feeling the familiar burn of tears behind her eyes, but she pushed them back. No showing any weaknesses on an office party. "I was head over heels, and the worst part is that everyone knew." Regina rubbed her arm, and she knew she was crying again. She was so done with the crying thing. She couldn't even remember the last time she didn't cry herself to sleep. "Does it look like I'm crying right now?" she whispered.

"No!" Regina said, looking over her shoulder. "It looks like it's the smoke from that goddamned cigarette. YO ROBIN HOOD!" Regina yelled at the man behind her. Emma couldn't stop a smile. "PUT THAT THING OUT, YOU'RE POISONING ALL OF US!"

Emma felt a warm presence behind her. "Apologies, milady." Robin said in that perfect accent of his. "I shall put it out immediately."

"Thank you, sir." Regina said, before a mischievous smile appeared on her lips. Regina and Robin – her and Emma's boss mind you – had been sleeping together for weeks now. Then she returned her attention to Emma. "Did he ever told you that he loved you back?"

"Three, _almost four _times! And when I reminded him of that, he said that it must've been as an answer to a question, which I can assure you, it was not!" Emma said.

Regina rubbed her eyes in exasperation, and Emma knew what was coming from miles away. "You know, miss Swan, when you catch your guy doing someone else, you're not supposed to stay friends with him. You're supposed to throw things at him, scream, call him names! Not clean his fucking house for him!"

Emma gasped. That was new, she hadn't heard that before. "What the – ? I don't clean his house, did someone tell you that?!" she whispered sharply. Regina blinked, another rumour burst for her. "No, all we do is...have lunch. When he's not with _her_, of course. And we talk on the phone, sometimes for _hours_." She heard herself talking and wanted to kick herself in the gut. What the hell was she doing with her life?

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Regina said, her evil tone of voice coming through. She only used that on Emma when she wanted to convey a point loud and clear.

And convey it she did. "Oh God, I'm _so_ aware of it." Before she could say anything else, like _excuse herself and get the fuck out of here_, Robin tapped her on the shoulder.

"Emma, have you finished your article yet? I need it on my desk before midnight, you know that!"

She looked at her phone and freaked a little. "Oh shit. No, sorry, I just have to type out the final words. I'll mail it to you in a few minutes." Robin nodded, and Emma fled to her office, where she typed the final paragraph.

_We are the victims of the one-sided affair, we are the cursed of the loved ones, we are the _un_loved ones, the walking wounded, the handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space._

_We are forever alone._


	2. The Announcement

**Okay so I think I've had enough follows and favourites that I can upload this chapter. I don't think I'm going to upload again before I have a few chapters written out, so that I don't have to stress about uploading, seeing as my other stories need attending to as well. I hope you understand.**

**So here is chapter 1 of the Holiday. Emma-centered. I hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 1  
The Announcement**

Emma finished her story quickly, re-reading it for any mistakes or lines she hated. As usual, there were a bunch. Ugh, she had to completely rewrite the entire beginning. Groaning, she deleted the entire first paragraph and started to rewrite it.

"Do you ever stop working?" Against her will, she started grinning at the smooth voice behind her. She turned around, chuckling at his teasing face. God, he was still handsome. Blond hair, brown eyes, an ever-present smirk. "What's it like? Working while the rest of us is just...getting drunk?" Neal jerked his head to the main hall where everyone was singing along – quite off-key – to a Christmas song she hated like all other Christmas songs. Christmas songs equalled loneliness and loneliness equalled pain, and Emma didn't quite handle pain well.

"You mean, not finishing their work on time. Just a second, Neal, don't go." She turned back to her computer and quickly finished up, sending her story to the main office. Then she turned back around. The smile was still plastered on his face.

"Hey, Duckling." Neal said, looking down to his feet while biting his lip in that cute, shy way he always did.

"Hey." she smiled. "Oh! I saw your story this morning, it was brilliant! I loved that line, ehm..." She pressed her fingers to her forehead to call it up. "_Love is our purpose, and purpose is what created us, it's purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us, it is purpose that defines us, purpose that binds us._ Wonderful writing."Even though she disagreed quite _strongly_ with the statement, she couldn't help but compliment him. It was pathetic, she knew that. But her mind kept going over and over the question whether he would take her back if she was kind enough, flirty enough, paid him enough compliments...Regina was right, she really was pathetic.

"Yeah, I know." Neal said, smiling and Emma beamed, at the same time that her head was scolding her. He wasn't _thanking her_, he was being a smug son of a bitch like always, and she shouldn't be happy. She shouldn't. But she was. "Oh, by the way, I bought you a Christmas present!"

Emma's entire face lit up. _Finally_. "Oh, that's a coincidence, I bought you one as well!" And she produced the neatly wrapped present from her desk. His face fell a bit, but he produced a grin the next moment.

"Oh darling, I don't actually have my gift with me. I imagine it's somewhere in my car, do you want to know what it is?"

Of course. Of freaking course. He hadn't bought her a gift at all. Why had she even hoped that he would? Why had he even brought it up? Her face fell a bit, but she recovered enough to smile. "No, no, that's alright." She handed him her present, which he somehow still deserved. "I didn't actually think we'd get to do this this year. Remember last Christmas, we exchanged gifts in March! This is good. We're making progress."

He smiled at her, and then began unwrapping his gift with greedy eyes. He gasped when he saw what he was holding. "You stinker." Emma giggled. He was holding the original Beauty and the Beast story. He gasped even more. "It's a first edition! However did you get it?"

"It was buried in that little place we found in Covent Garden that time."

He sighed, clutching the book to his chest as he looked at her with grateful eyes. She lived for that look sometimes. "Why are you so great?"

Honestly, she wasn't great. She was fucked up, she was scarred. But he always seemed to see the best in her, just when she needed to hear it. And as always, his compliments, however rare, brought a immensely stupid smile on her face, as if she were some infatuated teenager. Just then Robin called for attention outside, and their conversation was regrettably cut short.

He looked at her with that searing, intense look he had sometimes and smiled. "I hate it that we can never talk."

She shouldn't hate it. She should be happy that their talking time together was getting lesser and lesser by the day. Yet she replied, "Hate it."

What if this conversation had lasted a bit longer? Would he maybe have kissed her? There was no use in pondering over that. Smiling, she followed him outside, and moved forward a bit in the crowd as Robin made his speech.

"Well, first of all, a very happy Christmas to you all – " The crowd chimed 'Happy Christmas' back to him and he smiled that roguish smile that Regina always swooned over. " – now we aren't officially closed for the holiday, as you very well know – " A few people groaned, and Robin lifted his glass in recognition of the brave few that would stay for Christmas. " – but we are trying to get by with a smaller than usual staff. However, before you all rush off on your holidays, I have one rather important announcement to make. Seeing as our subject of the month is 'Holiday love', this will give all of you a good inspiration boost for your next stories." He took a swig of his champagne, his eyes locking with Regina's for just a second before continuing on with his story. Emma looked over her shoulder, expecting to find Neal behind her, but he was gone. Her heart dropped. He never stayed with her to chat. Always had to talk to others as well. "A wedding was privately announced earlier today, and I hope you all are inspired to write about it for it is between two of our most esteemed colleagues; Tamara Wilson and Neal Cassidy!"

Emma's heart broke again. Neal was engaged? And he didn't tell her? How _could_ he? Tears threatened in her eyes as all sound around her faded to a dull hum. She saw Neal standing up there with his arm around the brownhaired woman who was beaming and showing off her – enormous – engagement ring. She had to go home, now. She couldn't break down, not here, not where Neal could see her. If anything, she didn't want him to know the effect he had on her. How he was still holding her heart and crushing it with each passing day. His eyes crossed hers, and she smiled encouragingly, pretending she was happy for him. In reality, she was dying.

Gasping for breath to steel herself, she pushed her way through the crowd, grabbing her red coat, her gray beanie and her woollen scarf, while she packed herself in for the cold winter weather outside. She couldn't stay here a minute longer. She was going home and loose herself in chocolate and crying. Without saying goodbye to anyone, she left the office and headed straight for the train station.

She managed to keep herself together throughout the entire train ride and the walk to her little cottage in the country, all the while breaking her head over why he wouldn't tell her, why he would marry that tramp in the first place. She opened her front door with a blank look on her face, and it wasn't until she'd locked it behind her nice and tight and she was greeted by her little dog, the only thing that could console her a bit, that she lost it.

Emma Swan cried her eyes out.

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